Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of payment card processing, and more particularly to methods, systems and computer program products to split payment card transaction batches to clear according to processing agreements.
Description of the Related Art
Several processes are involved in commerce using payment cards. When a customer presents a payment card to a merchant, the merchant invokes an authorization process through the merchant's bank, the payment card network to the bank that issued the payment card, in which the issuing bank determines whether or not there are sufficient funds in the account associated with the payment card to cover the amount of the transaction. If there are sufficient funds, the issuing bank authorizes the transaction and the merchant delivers the subject of the transaction to the customer.
Periodically, the merchant or acquiring bank sends a batch of transactions for a particular brand of payment card to the payment card network for clearing and settlement. The payment card network sends the batch to a global clearing management system, which forwards the transactions of the batch to the appropriate issuing bank. The issuing bank debits the transaction amount from the account associated with the payment card and transfers the transaction amount, less a fee, to the credit card network. The credit card network transfers the amount it receives, less its fee, to the acquiring bank. The acquiring bank deposits into the merchant's account the amount it receives, less its fee.
Some countries and regions, wishing to have tighter control of their currency and commerce within their borders, have imposed processing agreements on payment card processors, which regulate the clearing and settlement processes. For example, Russia requires that all payment card transactions in which the merchant, the acquiring bank and the issuing bank are all located in Russia must be cleared through a dedicated Russian clearing management system separate from the global clearing management system.